Damn that single little '/ ’
And ‘here’ should be ‘hear’, in the last line.
Aro: alt + 130 gets you “é”
I can get it by just pressing Alt Gr and e.
é 
Aro Ahhh 2000AD wanders away humming Memories
TwistofFate, I have no idea who to intern. I assume a minimum amount of evidence would be required. What is or is not acceptable is one for the lawyers, including human rights lawyers. I read the BBC link posted by yojimbo. The issue wasn’t one of the rights or wrongs of internment but the treatment meted out to the internees.
Whether internment could be made to work today is, as I said earlier, unknown. It may go exactly the same ways as previously, as ruadh pointed out. It may not.
I have in the past read reasonably well argued cases that internment may work so I suggested it to see if anybody else thought there was a case for it.
So far, I’ve made suggestions. Anybody else got any ideas? Or is the GFA the only game in town, even if some, possibly all, parties have no intention of living by the spirit of it? (I think the answer should be in GD, though.)
As for the OP, is there a danger of over interpreting the timing? In other words, no matter when the arrests happened (now, a month ago, six months ago), somebody would come up with a good reason for it suiting the Unionists most at that particular time. Mind you, as has been pointed out, an election now may actually favour Sinn Féin, so perhaps the timing isn’t optimal for the Unionists.
I would argue that it was fairly predictable for the Unionists were bound to react in exactly the way they have - Paisley instantly accusing, Trimble more cautious but possibly glad that Paisley has said what he,(Trimble) thinks. Sinn Féin would have reacted in the same way as Paisley had the boot been on the other foot. Both sides have the habit of assuming the other is “guilty until proved innocent”. If the allegations are proven, particularly that the perpetrators were acting under orders, then it is a major issue. Is it enough to wreck the GFA?
Aro,
Admit it, you’re practicing for when you have to send your taxes to Baile Átha Cliath;)
You don’t know! Maybe the capital of a United Ireland will be Hillsborough.
(And maybe I’ll be King) 
I’ll give you Trimble, but Donaldson? I couldn’t turn on the telly for five minutes over the weekend without hearing all manner of spewage from his gob about this incident proving what he’d said all along about SF and blah blah blah.
Go Alien, yojimbo’s link only tells part of the story. Anti-internment sentiment began well before the full extent of the abuse was known. And it has now become such a bogey word that there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that reintroduction would be acceptable to nationalists anywhere on this island. And there’s a lot more of us now than there were in 1971, remember.
Paisley’s about to pull the two DUP MPs out to precipitate a move by Trimble. Bollocks to him.
Paisley gets an interesting chapter in Jon Ronson’s *Them: Adventures with Extremists. Something odd, yet strangely appropriate, about him being included in a book about Omar Bakri, David Icke, neo-Nazis and others.
I am not sure what the extreme fuss is about. American democracy did not crumble because of Watergate, which is a similar scale of offense. Democrats still talk to republicans. Put the perps in prison and get on with the peace process
The difference is that the US had 200 years’ pratice. This thing’s still wearing diapers. And none of the parties trust each other as far as they could spit each other.
You’re not in danger of, say, the Democrats refusing to participate in government, thus rendering Congress dead. If Trimble pulls out, the whole institution dies, the UK rules from London, and it all goes, as we doctors say, “tits up”.
I wonder how far the comparison between Watergate and this incident can be taken. IIRC Nixon ordered that people should steal documents form the Democrats and this was taken from the tapes he kept of his meetings. It will probably prove far harder to link the whole SF party to the spying activities. Also the way the Assembly is run is different to a regular government where one party or a coalition is in power. Since all parties are required for it to function then likely it will all stop or SF will get a relatively light tap on the wrists. If it does fall then it will back to the old days of direct rule from Westminister with some guidance from Dublin.
A few views from the outside:
Trimble seems like a whining baby, every time he makes the news over here, he’s threatening to quit or kick people out, etc.
Bush missed an opportunity to continue the work Clinton did. This further puts him into the ranking of ‘idiot’ in my book.
What did these documents have? Instructions for an atomic bomb? Trimble’s date book? Recipe for Unionist double chocolate chip cookies?
It seems to me that, while valiant attempts have been made over the years, things didn’t start moving towards peace until it became clear that it was the will of the people. Does this seemingly minor transgression change that? Or is it something that was heading that way anyway?
Sadly, my regular news sources were quite informative during the Clinton attempts, but they have highly neglected that corner of the world since 9/11. On a positive note, in the past the IRA was always made to be the bad guy. Recently I’ve seen some coverage pointing out that some of the Unionists aren’t such a pleasant bunch either.
I certainly hope cooler heads prevail. It certainly does seem to me that if the documents are as important as is claimed, it would seem to be the work of a individual or individuals, and not all of SF.
**
Trimble has done more than any other Unionist to ensure this agreement and the government works. He won the Nobel Peace prize (With John Hume), in 1998. He risks political suicide every time he allows this type of indiscretion to pass (and that has been on many occasion). The fact that he only makes the news in a crisis in your area does not make him a whinge.
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Doesn’t matter what the content is. The problem is they were taken illegally from the office of the Secretary of State. Although they are allegeded to contain lists of prominent police members and private conversations between Blair and Aherne etc…
**
This, if proven, is hardly, in any way, MINOR. But I’m sure some will argue it was on its way regardless.
How so? What did you see? Are you sure you are not confusing the ideas of Unionism with the violence of Loyalism? Because the UDA and the LVF are having a feud, does not in any way reflect on the UUP or their policies. To what are you refering here?
Have to agree with Aro about the nature of politics - all party leaders, and particularly Trimble, are walking a very precarious tightrope between the “street” opinion of their extreme supporters, and the requirements of the Agreement. If Trimble didn’t posture thus (“whine” if you like), he’d be ousted from his party by non-Agreement factions.
It’s my opinion that Adams and Trimble are reasonably civil to each other behind closed doors, but have to put on a public face of scorn. I hope that this current problem is just this, though I think that giving a 7-day ultimatum based on an allegation is going a wee bit far.
In her defense, I think NurseCarmen is referring to the rather one-sided coverage of the situation in NI in the US media, wherein Loyalist terror is rarely mentioned.
Little background, for our American friends…
Trimble only kept his position as leader of the UUP by agreeing to proposals set down by Jeffery Donaldson at a recent meeting.
He signed up to take a more hard-line stance against terrorists in government.
Sinn Féin are considered (by many) to be “riding the two horses of democracy and terrorism”, which is considered incompatible with the democratic process, and with the Good Friday Agreement. Republican writers, many of whom were IRA members in years gone by, are NOW calling for the IRA to be completely disbanded and the ‘struggle’ continued through democratic means. Not too many people still believe there is a need for violence.
The point is, if this is found to equate to a breach of ceasefire then there is no other option open to the party leaders.
I’m convinced that Adams would like nothing more than to be the man who disbands the IRA. Unfortunately he is not calling the shots when it comes to the IRA.
The best way I can see this turning out is a suspension followed by the IRA announcing a large movement towards disarmament possibly total… What? I can dream can’t I?
Actually in today’s world I really think that total disbandment would give Sinn Fein a really strong position and put the ball firmly in the Unionist court.
Another act of decommissioning would be laughed at, at this stage. It would have to be the real thing. Total disbandment has been bandied about as the ONLY way to possibly save the institutions. But it won’t /can’t happen in the timescale given, not to anyones satisfaction. The IRA leadership never react quickly, or when cornered (too smart for rash decisions).
They will wait 'till the dust settles before making comment.
Which may just be too late for Stormont.
(Who is leading the IRA Inner Council these days? Is it Brian Keenan?)
Maybe a solution can be found which will keep the institutions in place but it doesn’t look likely. Either Sinn Fein are expelled and the SDLP walk, collapsing the assembly or the UUP pull out with the same result. The most likely scenario is that the institutions will be suspended under the post-GFA legislation which involves a mandatory review. Whatever happens, it’s unlikely that justice won’t be allowed run its course in respect to the alleged offences.
All-in-all I don’t think this is such a bad thing. Since the GFA, significant movement has only happened in times of crisis. Everyone know that a deal would have to be worked out anyway before Trimble’s (Donaldson’s) three month deadline expired in January. If this brings about a move on arms (all the semtex would be nice - hardly a defensive weapon for catholic communities) or an engagement on policing, then that’s positive in my book. Everyone will keep talking even if it’s not within the formal institutions - a cooling off period may be just what the doctor ordered.